Chapter 14

¹ “Now her parents,” it says, “were righteous, and they taught their daughter according to the law of Moses.”

² For from the fruit that is put forth from them the tree too is easily known. For men who had become reverent and zealous for the law brought into the world children worthy of God: the one having become a prophet and martyr of Christ, the other a woman chaste and faithful, found in Babylon, whose dignity and chastity the blessed prophet Daniel made manifest.

³ “Now Jehoiakim,” it says, “was exceedingly rich, and he had a garden adjoining his house; and the Jews used to gather to him, because he was more honored than all the rest. And two elders from the people were appointed judges in that year, concerning whom the Master spoke, that ‘lawlessness came forth from Babylon, from elders who were judges, who seemed to govern the people.’ These frequented the house of Jehoiakim, and all who had cases to be judged came in to them.”

⁴ One must therefore inquire into the cause. For how were these men, being captives and having become subject as slaves to the Babylonians, able to come together into one place as though they were their own masters?

⁵ In this one must understand that Nebuchadnezzar, having resettled them, treated them kindly and permitted them, gathering together in one place, to carry out everything according to the law,

⁶ and they, having received this authority, appointed two rulers of the people, who seemed to govern the people. These frequented the house of Jehoiakim because he was more honored and more wealthy than all, inasmuch indeed as he was of royal stock.